Timberwolves interested in acquiring Ryan Anderson

The Minnesota Timberwolves have been an extremely active team this offseason, and they are expected to move superstar forward Kevin Love at some point before the season begins.

According to a report from Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors, the Timberwolves are interested in acquiring power forward Ryan Anderson from the New Orleans Pelicans. It would certainly be an interesting pickup for Minnesota, and it would allow them to continue stretching the floor out from the power forward position.

“Well, Flip’s been playing it really close to the vest and it’d take some mind-reading here, but I’ll give it a shot. At best we know he’d want veterans, and certainly he’d need a power forward, some scoring, and some rebounding to replace what Love gives them. Ryan Anderson is sort of like a Kevin Love-light in some ways, so if you could get him to Minny, I think Flip would be intrigued. And a nice 3 and D guy for the wing always comes in handy, so throw in Trevor Ariza (a guy who’d become eligible to be traded in December and whose contract is reasonable), or a reasonable facsimile.”

Anderson has been one of the NBA’s best three-point shooters over the past few seasons, and he would be turned lose on a Timberwolves team without Love on the roster. That being said, Anderson would not be able to replace the type of production in the rebounding and passing categories that Love has in recent years. He may not be the type of player that can power a franchise, but Minnesota could do much worse than Anderson as a replacement for Love.

Last season with the Pelicans, Anderson played in 22 regular season games and started in 14 of those appearances. He averaged 19.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, and also ended up shooting 40.9 percent from behind the three-point arc. There is no denying his ability to score the basketball, and he is also a very good locker room presence to have on a roster.

Overall, it wouldn’t be too terribly surprising to see the Timberwolves make something happen to acquire Anderson. He is a good fit for what they are trying to do, and would immediately be the starting power forward assuming that they are able to trade Love. Don’t be surprised to hear more rumors come out over the next week or two about Anderson.